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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/hispasromancepoeOOrile 



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NEGHBORLY POEMS 
SKETCHES IN PROSE, WITH 
INTERLUDING VERSES 

AFTERWHILES 

PIPES O' PAN (Prose and Verse) 

RHYMES OF CHILDHOOD 

FLYING ISLANDS OF THE 
NIGHT 

GREEN FIELDS AND RUN- 
NING BROOKS 

ARMAZINDY 

A CHILD-WORLD 

HOME FOLKS 

HIS PA'S ROMANCE 

(The volumes above are bound 
in a uniform set known as the 
Greenfield edition) 

OLD-FASHIONED ROSES 
THE GOLDEN YEAR 
POEMS HERE AT HOME 
RUBAIYAT OF DOC SIFERS 

THE BOOK OF JOYOUS 
CHILDREN 

RILEY CHILD-RHYMES 

(With Hoosier Pictures) 

RILEY LOVE-LYRICS 
(Pictures by Dyer) 

RILEY FARM-RHYMES 
(Pictures by Vawter) 

AN OLD SWEETHEART OF 
MINE (Pictures by Christy) 




pyLugLoJ^jC 






COPYRIGHT, 1903 
BY JOHN CECIL CLAY 



James Whitcomb Riley 



His Pas Romance 



y antes W^hitcomb Riley 



With Illustrations by 

Will Vawter and a Portrait by 

John Cecil Clay 



Indianapolis 

The Bobbs-Merrill Company 

Publishers 



Copyright, 1903 
James Whitcomb Riley 



November 


| 


THE LIBRARY OF 

CONGRESS, 
Two Cort«e Received 

NOV 23 1908 

COPyRWMT ENTWV 

OUM53A. XXft No. 
COPYB. 



• • I 

* V * * 



PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & CO. 

BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



His Pas Romance 



i 



> 



TO— 

EDGAR WILSON NYE 



Such silence — after such glad merriment! 
O prince of halest humor, wit and cheer; 
Could you speak yet to us, I doubt not we 
Should catch your voice, still blithely eloquent 
Above all murmurings of sorrow here, 
Calling your love back to us laughingly. 



m 



Contents 





Page 


Almost Beyond Endurance 


27 


An Idyll of the King 


137 


An Old Friend 


106 


At Ninety in the Shade 


67 


Billy Miller's Circus-Show 


55 


Brave Refrain, A 


80 


Chairley Burke 


60 


Edgar Wilson Nye 


132 


Fall Crick View of the Earthquake, A 


88 


Fire at Night 


86 


Good-bye er Howdy-do 


7i 


"Go Read Your Book" 


166 


Her Beautiful Hands 


112 


Hint of Spring, A 


99 


His Pa's Romance 


1 


His Room 


120 


In State 


126 


Law of the Perverse, The 


58 


Lisper, The 


31 


Local Politician from Away Back, A 


73 


Lockerbie Fair 


IOI 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Me and Mary 83 

Mr. Silberberg 91 

Mute Singer, The 128 

My Bachelor Chum 109 

Never Talk Back 78 

Noon Interval, A 134 

Old Granny Dusk 45 

Old Hec's Idolatry 135 

Old Man of the Sea, The 63 

Our Betsy 34 

Paths of Peace, The 124 

Prose or Verse 165 

Simple Recipe, A 30 
Some Christmas Youngsters 

The Strength of the Weak 40 

The Little Questioner 43 

Parental Christmas Presents 44 

Songs of a Life-Time 133 

Spirits at Home 95 

The Best is Good Enough 115 

Tinkle of Bells, A 103 

Toil 117 

Toy-Balloon, The sy 

Tribute of His Home, The 130 

Twilight Stories 25 

Unless 163 

When Uncle Doc was Young 51 

Young Old Man, The 47 



His Pas Romance 



HIS PA'S ROMANCE 

All 'at I ever want to be 

Is ist to be a man like Pa 

When he wuz young an' married Ma ! 

Uncle he telled us yisterdy 

Ist all about it then — 'cause they, 

My Pa an' Ma, wuz bofe away 

To 'tend P'tracted Meetin', where 

My Pa an' Ma is alius there 

When all the big "Revivals" is, 

An' "Love-Feasts," too, an' "Class," an 5 

"Prayer," 
An' when's "Comoonian Servicis." 
An', yes, an' Uncle said to not 
To never tell them nor let on 
Like we knowed now ist how they got 
First married. So — while they wuz gone — 

I 



his pa's romance 



Uncle he telled us everything — 
'Bout how my Pa wuz ist a pore 
Farm-boy. — He says, I tell you what, 
Your Pa wuz pore ! But neighbors they 
All liked him — all but one old man 
An' his old wife that folks all say 
Nobody liked, ner never can ! 
Yes, sir ! an' Uncle purt'-nigh swore 
About the mean old man an' way 
He treat' my Pa ! — 'cause he's a pore 
Farm-hand — but prouder 'an a king — 
An' ist work' on, he did, an' wore 
His old patched clo'es, ist anyway, 
So he saved up his wages — then 
He ist worked on an' saved some more, 
An' ist worked on, ist night an' day — 
Till, sir, he save' up nine or ten 
Er hunnerd dollars ! But he keep 
All still about it, Uncle say — 
But he ist thinks — an' thinks a heap ! 
Though what he wuz a-thinkin', Pa 

2 



his pa's romance 



He never tell' a soul but Ma — 
(Then, course, you know, he wuzn't Pa, 
An', course, you know, she wuzn't Ma — 
They wuz ist sweethearts, course you know) ; 
'Cause Ma wuz ist a girl, about 
Sixteen ; an' when my Pa he go 
A-courtin' her, her Pa an' Ma — 
The very first they find it out — 
Wuz maddest folks you ever saw ! 
'Cause it wuz her old Ma an' Pa 
'At hate' my Pa, an' toss their head, 
An' ist raise Ned ! An' her Pa said 
He'd ruther see his daughter dead! 
An' said she's ist a child ! — an' so 
Wuz Pa ! — An' ef he wuz man-grown 
An' only man on earth below, 
His daughter shouldn't marry him 
Ef he's a king an' on his throne ! 
Pa's chances then looked mighty slim 
Fer certain, Uncle said. But he — 

3 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 



He never told a soul but her 
What he wuz keepin' quiet fer. 



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Her folks 1st lived a mile from where 
He lived at — an' they drove past there 

4 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 

To git to town. An' ever' one 

An' all the neighbors they liked her 

An' showed it ! But her folks — no, sir ! — 

Nobody liked her parents none ! 

An' so when they shet down, you know, 

On Pa — an' old man tell' him so — 

Pa ist went back to work, an' she 

1st waited. An', sir ! purty soon 

Her folks they thought he's turned his eye 

Some other way — 'cause by-an'-by 

They heerd he'd rented the old place 

He worked on. An' one afternoon 

A neighbor, that had bust' a trace, 

He tell' the old man they wuz signs 

Around the old place that the young 

Man wuz a-fixin' up the old 

Log cabin some, an' he had brung 

New furnichur from town ; an' told 

How th' old house 'uz whitewashed clean 

An' sweet — wiv mornin'-glory vines 

An' hollyhawks all 'round the door 

5 



his pa's romance 



An' winders — an' a bran'-new floor 
In th' old porch — an' wite-new green- 
An'-red pump in the old sweep-well ! 
An', Uncle said, when he hear tell 
O' all them things, the old man he 
1st grin' an' says, he "reckon' now 
Some gal, er widder anyhow, 
That silly boy he's coaxed at last 
To marry him !" he says, says-ee, 
"An' ef he has, 'so mote it be' I" 
Then went back to the house to tell 
His wife the news, as he went past 
The smokehouse, an' then went on in 
The kitchen, where his daughter she 
Wuz washin', to tell her, an' grin 
An' try to worry her a spell ! 
The mean old thing ! But Uncle said 
She ain't cry much — ist pull her old 
Sunbonnet forrerds on her head — 
So's old man he can't see her face 
At all ! An' when he s'pose he scold' 

6 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 



An' jaw enough, he ist clear' out 
An' think he's boss of all the place ! 



Then Uncle say, the first you know 
They's go' to be a Circus-show 



— jl_I1" 




In town ; an' old man think he'll take 
His wife an' go. An' when she say 
To take their daughter, too, she shake 
Her head like she don't want to go ; 
An' when he sees she wants to stay, 

7 



his pa's romance 



The old man takes her, anyway ! 
An' so she went ! But Uncle he 
Said she looked mighty sweet that day, 
Though she wuz pale as she could be, 
A-speshully a-drivin' by 
Wite where her beau lived at, you know ; 
But out the corner of his eye 
The old man watch' her ; but she throw 
He pairsol 'round so she can't see 
The house at all ! An' then she hear 
Her Pa an' Ma a-talkin' low 
An' kindo' laughin'-like ; but she 
1st set there in the seat behind, 
P'tendin' like she didn't mind. 
An', Uncle say, when they got past * 
The young man's place, an' 'pearantly 
He wuzn't home, but off an' gone 
To town, the old man turned at last 
An' talked back to his daughter there, 
All pleasant-like, from then clean on 
Till they got into town, an' where 

8 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 



The Circus wuz, an' on inside 

O' that, an' through the crowd, on to 

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The very top seat in the tent 

Wite next the band— a-bangin' through 

A tune 'at bust his yeers in two ! 

9 



his pa's romance 



An' there the old man scrouged an' tried 

To make his wife set down, an' she 

A-yellin' ! But ist what she meant 

He couldn't hear, ner couldn't see 

Till she turned 'round an' pinted. Then 

He turned an' looked — an' looked again ! . 

He ist saw neighbors ever'where — 

But, sir, his daughter wuzn't there ! 

An', Uncle says, he even saw 

Her beau, you know, he hated sc ; 

An' he wuz with some other girl. 

An' then he heerd the Clown "Haw-haw !" 

An' saw the horses wheel an' whirl 

Around the ring, an' heerd the zipp 

O' the Ringmaster's long slim whip — 

But that whole Circus, Uncle said, 

Wuz all inside the old man's head ! 

An' Uncle said, he didn't find 
His daughter all that afternoon— 
An' her Ma says she'll lose her mind 

10 



his pa's romance 



Ef they don't find her purty soon ! 

But, though they looked all day, an 5 stayed 

There fer the night p'formance — not 

No use at all ! — they never laid 

Their eyes on her. An' then they got 

Their team out, an' the old man shook 

His fist at all the town, an' then 

Shook it up at the moon ag'in, 

An' said his time 'ud come, some day ! 

An' jerked the lines an' driv away. 

Uncle, he said, he 'spect, that night, 
The old man's madder yet when they 
Drive past the young man's place, an' hear 
A fiddle there, an' see a light 
Inside, an' shadders light an' gay 
A-dancin' 'crost the winder-blinds. 
An' some young chaps outside yelled, "Say ! 
What 'pears to be the hurry — hey ?" 
But the old man ist whipped the lines 
An' streaked past like a runaway ! 

II 



his pa's romance 



An' now you'll be su'prised, I bet !^~ 

I hardly ain't quit laughin' yet 

When Uncle say, that jamboree 

An' dance an' all — w'y, that's a sign 

That any old man ort to see, 

As plain as 8 and I makes 9, 

That they's a weddin' wite inside 

That very house he's whippin' so 

To git apast — an', sir ! the bride 

There's his own daughter ! Yes, an' oh ! 

She's my Ma now — an' young man she 

Got married, he's my Pa ! Whoop-ee ! 

But Uncle say to not laugh all 

The laughin' yet, but please save some 

To kindo' spice up what's to come ! 

Then Uncle say, about next day 
The neighbers they begin to call 
An' wish 'em well, an' say how glad 
An' proud an' tickled ever' way 
Their friends all is — an' how they had 

12 



his pa's romance 



The lovin' prayers of ever' one 
That had homes of their own ! But none 
Said nothin' 'bout the home that she 
Had run away from ! So she sighed 
Sometimes — an' wunst she purt'-nigh cried, 

Well, Uncle say, her old Pa, he 
1st like to died, he wuz so mad ! 
An' her Ma, too ! But by-an'-by 
They cool down some. 

An', 'bout a week, 
She want to see her Ma so bad, 
She think she'll haf to go ! An' so 
She coax him ; an' he kiss her cheek 
An' say, Lord bless her, course they'll go ! 
An', Uncle say, when they're bofe come 
A-knockin' there at her old home — 
W'y, first he know, the door it flew 
Open, all quick, an' she's jerked in, 
An', quicker still, the door's banged to 
An' locked : an' crosst the winder-sill 

13 



HIS VA S ROMANCE 



The old man pokes a shotgun through 
An' says to git ! "You stold my child," 



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He says ; "an', now she's back, w'y you 
Clear out, this minute, er I'll kill 

14 



his pa's romance 



You ! Yes, an' I 'ull kill her, too, 
Ef you don't go !" An' then, all wild, 
His young wife begs him please to go ! 
An* so he turn' an* walk'— all slow 
An' pale as death, but awful still 
An' ca'm — back to the gate, an' on 
Into the road, where he had gone 
So many times alone, you know ! 
An', Uncle say, a whipperwill 
Holler so lonesome, as he go 
On back to'rds home, he say he 'spec' 
He ist 'ud like to wring its neck ! 
An' I ain't think he's goin' back 
All by hisse'f — but Uncle say 
That's what he does, an' it's a f ac' ! 

An' 'pears-like he's gone back to stay — 
'Cause there he stick', ist thataway, 
An' don't go nowheres any more, 
Ner don't nobody ever see 

IS 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 

Him set his foot outside the door — 
Till 'bout five days, a boy loped down 
The road, a-comin' past from town, 
An' he called to him from the gate, 




An' sent the old man word : He's thought 
Things over now ; an', while he hate 
To lose his wife, he think she ought 
To mind her Pa an' Ma an' do 

16 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 

Whatever they advise her to. 
An' sends word, too, to come an' git 
Her new things an' the furnichur 
That he had special' bought fer her— 
'Cause, now that they wuz goin' to quit, 
She's free to ist have all of it ; — 
So, fer his love fer her, he say 
To come an' git it, wite away. 
An' spang ! that very afternoon, 
Here come her Ma — ist 'bout as soon 
As old man could hitch up an' tell 
Her "hurry back!" An' 'bout as quick 
As she's drove there to where my Pa — 
I mean to where her son-in-law — 
Lives at, he meets her at the door 
All smilin', though he's awful pale 
An' trimbly — like he's ist been sick ; 
He take her in the house — an', 'fore 
She knows it, they's a cellar-door 
Shet on her, an' she hears the click 
17 



HIS PA S ROMANCE 

Of a' old rusty padlock ! Then, 
Uncle, he say, she kindo' stands 
An' thinks — an' thinks — an' thinks ag'in- 
An' maybe thinks of her own child 
Locked up — like her ! An' Uncle smiled, 
An' I ist laughed an' clapped my hands ! 








An' there she stayed ! An' she can cry 
Ist all she want ! an' yell an' kick 
To ist her heart's content ! an' try 

18 



his pa's romance 



To pry out wiv a quiltin'-stick ! 

But Uncle say he guess at last 

She 'bout give up, an' holler' through 

The door-crack fer to please to be 

So kind an' good as send an' tell 

The old man, like she want him to, 

To come, 'fore night, an' set her free, 

Er — they wuz rats down there ! An' yell 

She did, till, Uncle say, it saured 

The morning's milk in the back yard ! 

But all the answer reached her, where 

She's skeerd so in the dark down there, 

Wuz ist a mutterin' that she heard — 

"I've sent him word ! — I've sent him word !" 

An' shore enough, as Uncle say, 

He has "sent word !" 

Well, it's plum night 
An' all the house is shet up tight — 
Only one winder 'bout half-way 
Raised up, you know ; an' ain't no light 
Inside the whole house, Uncle say. 

19 



his pa's romance 



Then, first you know, there where the team 
Stands hitched yet, there the old man 

stands— 
A' old tin lantern in his hands 
An' monkey-wrench ; an' he don't seem 
To make things out, a-standin' there. 
He comes on to the gate an' feels 
An' fumbles fer the latch — then hears 
A voice that chills him to the heels — 
"You halt ! an' stand right where you air !" 
Then, sir ! my — my — his son-in-law, 
There at the winder wiv his gun, 
He tell the old man what he's done : 
"You hold my wife a prisoner — 
An' your wife, drat ye ! I've got her ! 
An' now, sir," Uncle say he say, 
"You ist turn round an' climb wite in 
That wagon, an' drive home ag'in 
An' bring my wife back wite away, 
An' we'll trade then — an' not before 
Will I unlock my cellar-door — 
20 



HIS PAS ROMANCE 



Not fer your wife's sake ner your own, 
But my wife's sake — an' her's alone !" 




An', Uncle say, it don't sound like 
It's so, but yet it is ! — He say, 
21 



his pa's romance 



From wite then, somepin' seem' to strike 
The old man's funny-bone some way ; 
An', minute more, that team o' his 
Went tearin' down the road k'whiz ! 
An' in the same two-forty style 
Come whizzin' back ! An' oh, that-air 
Sweet girl a-cryin' all the while, 
Thinkin' about her Ma there, shet 
In her own daughter's cellar, where 
1st week or so she's kep' house there, 
She hadn't time to clean it yet ! 
So when her Pa an' her they git 
There — an' the young man grab' an' kiss 
An' hug her, till she make him quit 
An' ask him where her mother is. 
An' then he smile' an' try to not ; 
Then slow-like find th' old padlock key, 
An' blow a' oat-hull out of it, 
An' then stoop down there where he's got 
Her Ma locked up so keerfully — 
An' where, wite there, he say he thought 
22 



HIS PAS ROMANCE 

It ort to been the old man — though 

Uncle, he say, he reckon not — 

When out she bounced, all tickled so 

To taste fresh air ag'in an' find 

Her folks wunst more, an' grab' her child 

An' cry an' laugh, an' even go 

An' hug the old man ; an' he wind 




HIS PA'S ROMANCE 

Her in his arms, an' laugh, an' pat 

Her back, an' say he's riconciled, 

In such a happy scene as that, 

To swop his daughter for her Ma, 

An' have so smart a son-in-law 

As they had ! "Yes, an' he's my Pa !" 

I laugh' an' yell', "Hooray-hooraw !" 



24- 




$*# 



TWILIGHT STORIES 

Neither daylight, starlight, moonlight, 
But a sad-sweet term of some light 
By the saintly name of Twilight. 



The Grandma Twilight Stories! — Still, 

A childish listener, I hear 
The katydid and whippoorwill, 

In deepening atmosphere 

25 



TWILIGHT STORIES 

Of velvet dusk, blent with the low 
Soft music of the voice that sings 

And tells me tales of long ago 
And old enchanted things. . . . 

While far fails the last dim daylight, 
And the -fireflies in the Twilight 
Drift about like flakes of starlight. 



26 



ALMOST BEYOND ENDURANCE 

I ain't a-goin' to cry no more, no more ! 
I'm got ear-ache, an' Ma can't make 
It quit a-tall ; 

An' Carlo bite my rubber-ball 
An' puncture it ; an' Sis she take 
An' poke' my knife down through the stable-floor 

An' loozed it — blame it all ! 
But I ain't goin' to cry no more, no more ! 

An' Aunt Mame wrote she's comin', an' she 
can't — 
Folks is come there! — An' I don't care 

She is my Aunt ! 
An' my eyes stings ; an' I'm 
1st coughin' all the time, 
27 



ALMOST BEYOND ENDURANCE 

An 5 hurts me so, an' where my side's so sore 
Grampa felt where, an' he 
Says "Mayby it's pleurasy!" 

But I ain't goin' to cry no more, no more ! 




An' I clumbed up an' nen failed off the fence, 
An' Herbert he ist laugh at me ! 
An' my fi'-cents 
28 



ALMOST BEYOND ENDURANCE 

It sticked in my tin bank, an' I ist tore 

Purt'-nigh my thumbnail off, a-tryin' to git 
It out— nen smash it !— An' it's in there yit ! 

But I ain't goin' to cry no more, no more ! 

Oo! I'm so wickud ! — An' my breath's so hot — 

Ist like I run an' don't res' none 
But ist run on when I ought to not ; 
Yes, an' my chin 
An' lips 's all warpy, an' teeth's so fast, 
An' 's a place in my throat I can't swaller 
past — 

An' they all hurt so ! — 
An' oh, my-oh ! 
I'm a-startin' ag'in — 
I'm z-startin' ag'in, but I won't, fer shore! — 
/ ist ain't goin' to cry no more, no more! 



29 



A SIMPLE RECIPE 

To be a wholly worthy man, 

As you, my boy, would like to be, — 

This is to show you how you can — 
This simple recipe : — 

Be honest — both in word and act, 

Be strictly truthful through and through : 
Fact cannot fail. — You stick to fact, 

And fact will stick to you. 
Be clean — outside and in, and sweep 

Both hearth and heart and hold them bright ; 
Wear snowy linen — aye, and keep 

Your conscience snowy-white. 

Do right, your utmost — good must come 

To you who do your level best — 
Your very hopes will help you some, 

And work will do the rest. 
30 



THE LISPER 



Elsie Mingus lisps, she does ! 
She lives wite acrosst from us 

In Miz. Ayers'uz house 'at she 
Rents part to the Mingusuz. — 

Yes, an' Elsie plays wiv me. 




Elsie lisps so, she can't say 
Her own name, ist anyzvay! — 

31 



,.^-Vv— 




THE LISPER 

She says "Eltliy" — like they wuz 
Feathers on her words, an' they 
1st stick on her tongue like tv 

, .' she 's putty, though! — An 5 when 
She lisps, w'y, she 's puny nen! 

When she relied me, wunst, her doll 
Wuz so "thweei." an 5 T p'ten' 
• / lisp too. — she laugh 3 — 'at 's all ! — 

She don't never git mad none — 
'Cause she know I'm ist In fun.— 

Elsie she ain't one bit sp'iled. — 
Of all childerns — ever' one — 

She's the ladylikest child! — 

My Ma say she is! One time 
Elsie start to say the rhyme, 

"Thing a thong- o' thixpenth" — Wl 
I ist \v//.' An' Ma say Em 

Unpolite as I can be! 



3* 



THE LISPER 

Wunst I went wiv Ma to call 
On Elsie's Ma, an' eat an' all ; 

An' nen Elsie, when we've et, 
An' we 're playin' in the hall, 

Elsie say : It 's etikett 

Fer young gentlemens, like me, 
Eatin' when they 's company, 

Not to never ever crowd 
Down their food, ner "thip their tea 

Ner thup thoop so awful loud!" 




33 



OUR BETSY 

Us childern 's all so lonesome, 

We hardly want to play 
Or skip or swing or anything, — 

'Cause Betsy she's away ! 

She's gone to see her people 
At her old home. — But then — 

Oh! every child '11 jist be wild 
When she's back here again! 

CHORUS 

Then it 's whoopty-doopty dooden!- 

Whoopty-dooden then! 
Oh! it 's zvhoopty-doopty dooden, 

When Betsy 's back again! 
34 



OUR BETSY 



She's like a mother to us, 
And like a sister, too — 

Oh ! she's as sweet as things to eat 
When all the dinner 's through ! 

And hey ! to hear her laughin' ! 

And ho ! to hear her sing ! — 
To have her back is all we lack 

Of havin' everything! 




fir'1! 






CHORUS 

Then it 's zvhoopty-doopty doodenl 

Whoopty-dooden then! 
Oh! it 's zvhoopty-doopty dooden, 

When Betsy 's back again! 

35 



OUR BETSY 

Oh ! some may sail the northern lakes, 

And some to foreign lands, 
And some may seek old Nameless Creek, 

Or India's golden sands ; 

Or some may go to Kokomo, 

And some to Mackinac, — 
But Fll go down to Morgantown 

To fetch our Betsy back. 

CHORUS 

Then it 's whoopty-doopty dooden! — 

Whoopty-dooden then! 
Oh! it 's whoopty-doopty dooden, 

When Betsy 's back again! 



36 



THE TOY-BALLOON 

They wuz a Big Day wunst in town, 

An' little Jason's Pa 
Buyed him a little toy-balloon, 

The first he ever saw. — 
An' oh! but Jase wuz more'n proud, 

A-holdin' to the string 
An' scrougin' through the grea'-big crowd. 

To hear the Glee Club sing. 

The Glee Club it wuz goin' to sing 

In old Masonic Hall ; 
An' Speakin', it wuz in there, too, 

An' soldiers, folks an' all: 
An' Jason's Pa he git a seat 

An' set down purty soon, 
A-holdin' little Jase, an' him 

A-holdin' his balloon. 

37 



THE TOY-BALLOON 

An' while the Speakin' 's startin' up 

An' ever'body still — 
The first you know wuz little Jase 

A-yellin' fit to kill !— 
Nen Jason's Pa jump on his seat 

An' grab up in the air, — 
But little Jason's toy-balloon 

Wuz clean away from there ! 

An' Jase he yelled ; an* Jase's Pa, 

Still lookin' up, clumb down- 
While that-air little toy-balloon 

Went bumpin' roun' an' roun' 
Ag'inst the ceilin', 'way up there 

Where ever'body saw, 
An' they all yelled, an' Jason yelled, 

An' little Jason's Pa ! 

But when his Pa he packed him out 

A-screamin' — nen the crowd 
Looked down an' hushed — till they looked up 

An' howled again out loud ; 

38 



THE TOY-BALLOON 

An' nen the speaker, mad an' pale, 
jist turned an' left the stand, 

An' all j'ined in the Glee Club— "Hail, 
Columby, Happy Land!" 



39 



SOME CHRISTMAS YOUNGSTERS 



THE STRENGTH OF THE WEAK 

Last Chris'mus, little Benny 

Wuzn't sick so bad, — 
Now he 's had the worst spell 

Ever yet he had. 
Ever' Chris'mus-morning, though, 

He '11 p'tend as if 
He 's asleep — an' first you know 

He 's got your "Chris'mus-gif ' !' : 

Pa he 's good to all of us 

All the time ; but when, 
Ever' time it 's Chris'mus, 

He's as good again ! — 
40 



SOME CHRISTMAS YOUNGSTERS 

'Sides our toys an' candy, 

Ever' Chris'mus, he 
Gives us all a quarter, 

Certain as can be ! 




Pa, this morning, tiptoe' in 
To make the fire, you know, 

Long 'fore it 's daylight, 
An' all 's ice an' snow ! — 
41 



SOME CHRISTMAS YOUNGSTERS 

An' Benny holler, cc Chris' puis- gif l } 

An' Pa jump an' say, 
"You '11 only git a dollar if 

You skeer me thataway l" 




4-2 



SOME CHRISTMAS YOUNGSTERS 



II 



THE LITTLE QUESTIONER 

Babe she 's so always 

Wantin' more to hear 
All about Santy Claus, 

An' says : "Mommy dear, 
Where 's Santy's home at 

When he ain't away? — 
An' is they Mizzus Santy Claus 

An' little folks — say ? — 
Chris'mus, Santy 's always here- 

Don't they want him, too ? 
When it ain't Chris'mus 

What does he do?" 



43 



SOME CHRISTMAS YOUNGSTERS 

III 

PARENTAL CHRISTMAS PRESENTS 

Parunts don't git toys an 5 things, 

Like you 'd think they ruther. — 
Mighty funny Chris'mus-gif s 

Parunts gives each other ! — 
Pa give Ma a barrel o' flour. 

An' Ma she give to Pa 
The nicest dinin'-table 

She know he ever saw ! 




OLD GRANNY DUSK 

Old Granny Dusk, when the sun goes down, 

Here she comes into thish-yer town ! 

Out o' the wet black woods an' swamps 

In she traipses an' trails an' tromps — 

With her old sunbonnet all floppy an' brown, 

An' her cluckety shoes, an' her old black gown, 

Here she comes into thish-yer town ! 




45 



OLD GRANNY DUSK 

Old Granny Dusk, when the bats begin 
To flap around, comes a-trompin' in ! 
An' the katydids they rasp an' whir, 
An' the lightnin'-bugs all blink at her; 
An' the old Hop-toad turns in his thumbs, 
An' the bunglin' June-bug booms an' bums, 
An' the Bullfrog croaks, "O here she comes !" 

Old Granny Dusk, though I'm 'feard o' you, 

Shore- fer-certain I'm sorry, too: 

'Cause you look as lonesome an' starved an' sad 

As a mother 'at's lost ever' child she had. — 

Yet never a child in thish-yer town 

Clings at yer hand er yer old black gown, 

Er kisses the face you 're a-bendin' down. 



46 






THE YOUNG OLD MAN 



VOLUNTARY BY ARTLESS ^LITTLE BROTHER^ 



Mamma is a widow : there's only us three — 
Our pretty Mamma, little sister, and me: 
And we 've come to live in this new neighborhood 
Where all seems so quiet, old-fashioned and good. 
Mamma sits and sews at the window, and I — 
I 'm out at the gate when an old man goes by — 
Such a lovely old man, — though I can't tell you 
why, 
Unless it's his greeting, — "Good morning! 
Good morning! good morning!" the old man 

will say, — 
"Fine bracing weather we're having to-day ! — 

47 



THE YOUNG OLD MAN 

And how ? s little brother — 
And sister— and mother? — 
So dear to each other ! — 
Good morning !" 

The old man goes by, in his glossy high-hat, 
And stripe-trousers creased, and all turned-up, at 

that, 
And his glancing nose-glasses — and pleasantest 

eyes, 
As he smiles on me, always in newer surprise : 
And though his mustache is as white as the 

snow, 
He wears it waxed out and all pointed, you 

know, 
And gloves, and high collar and bright, jaunty 

bow, 
And stylish umbrella. — "Good morning ! 

4 8 



THE YOUNG OLD MAN 

Good morning! good morning!" the old man 

will say, — 
"Fine falling weather we're promised to- 
day! — 

And how 's little brother — 
And sister — and mother ? — 
So fond of each other ! — 
Good morning !" 



It's Christmas ! — it's Christmas ! and oh, but 

we're gay ! 
The postman's been here, and Ma says, "Run and 

play :— 
You must leave your Mamma to herself for a 

while!" 
And so sweet is her voice, and so tender her 

smile ! — 
And she looks so pretty and happy and — 

Well !— 
She 's just too delicious for language to tell ! — 

49 



THE YOUNG OLD MAN 

So Sis hugs her more — and / answer the bell, — 
And there in the doorway— "Good morn- 
ing!— 
Good morning ! good morning ! good morning, 

I say! — 
Fine Christmas weather we're having to- 
day ! — 

And how 's little brother — 
Dear sister — er, ruther — 
Why, here is your mother. . . . 
Good morning!" 



5o 



WHEN UNCLE DOC WAS YOUNG 

Though Doctor Glenn — the best of men- 
Is wrinkled, old, and gray, 

He '11 always smile and stop awhile 
Where little children play : 




Si 



WHEN UNCLE DOC WAS YOUNG 

And often then he tells us, when 
He was a youngster, too, 

He was as glad and bad a lad 
As old folks ever knew ! 







As he walks down, no boy in town 

But sees him half a block, 
And stops to shout a welcome out 

With "Here comes Uncle Doc !" 
Then all the rest, they look their best 

As he lines up among 
Us boys of ten — each thinking then 

When Uncle Doc was young. 



We run to him! — Though grave and grim, 
With voice pitched high and thin, 

He still reveals the joy he feels 
In all that he has been : 



52 



J- 




WHEN UNCLE DOC WAS YOUNG 

With heart too true, and honest, too, 

To ever hide a truth, 
He frankly owns, in laughing tones, 

He was "a sorry youth !" — 










When he was young, he says, he sung 

And howled his level-best ; 
He says he guyed, and sneaked, and lied, 

And wrecked the robin's nest. — 

53 



WHEN UNCLE DOC WAS YOUNG 

And this, and worse, will he rehearse, 
Then smooth his snowy locks 

And look the saint he says he ain't. . 
Them eyes of Uncle Doc's ! 

He says, when he — like you and me — 

Was just too low and mean 
To slap asleep, he used to weep 

To find his face was clean : 
His hair, he said, was just too red 

To tell with mortal tongue — 
"The Burning Shame" was his nickname 

When Uncle Doc was young. 



54 



BILLY MILLER'S CIRCUS-SHOW 

At Billy Miller's Circus-Show — 
In their old stable where it's at — 

The boys pays twenty pins to go, 

An' gits their money's-worth at that !■ 




'Cause Billy he can climb and chalk 
His stockin'-feet an' purt'-nigh walk 
A tight-rope — yes, an' ef he fall 
He'll ketch, an' "skin a cat"— 'at's all ! 

55 



BILLY MILLER'S CIRCUS-SHOW 



He ain't afeard to swing and hang 
1st by his legs ! — an' mayby stop 

An' yell "Look out !" an' nen — k-spang ! — 
He'll let loose, upside-down, an' drop 
Wite on his hands ! An' nen he'll do 
"Contortion-acts" — ist limber through 
As "Injarubber Mens" 'at goes 
With shore-f er-certain circus-shows ! 

At Billy Miller's Circus-Show 
He's got a circus-ring — an' they's 

A dressin'-room, — so's he can go 
An' dress an' paint up when he plays 
He's somepin' else ; — 'cause sometimes he's 
"Ringmaster" — bossin' like he please — 
An' sometimes "Ephalunt" — er "Bare- 
Back Rider," prancin' out o' there ! 

An' sometimes — an' the best of all ! — 
He's "The Old Clown," an' got on clo'es 

All stripud, — an' white hat, all tall 

An' peakud — like in shore-'nuff shows, — 

56 



BILLY MILLER'S CIRCUS-SHOW 



An' got three-cornered red-marks, too, 
On his white cheeks — ist like they do !- 
An' you'd ist die, the way he sings 
An' dances an' says funny things ! 



57 



THE LAW OF THE PERVERSE 

Where did the custom come from, anyway? — 
Sending the boys to "play," at dinner-time, 

When we have company? What is there, pray, 
About the starched, unmalleable guest 
That, in the host's most genial interest, 

Finds him first favor on Thanksgiving Day 
Beside the steaming turkey, with its wings 
Akimbo over all the savory things 
It has been stuffed with, yet may never thus 
Make one poor boy's face glad and glorious ! 

Fancy the exiled boy in the back-yard, 
Ahungered so that any kind of grub 

Were welcome, yet with face set stern and hard, 
Hearing the feasters' laugh and mild hubbub, 
And wanting to kill something with a club !— 

58 



THE LAW OF THE PERVERSE 

Intuitively arguing the unjust 
Distinction, as he naturally must, — 
The guest with all the opportunity, — 
The boy with all the appetite ! Ah, me ! 



So is it that when I, a luckless guest, 

Am thus arraigned at banquet, I sit grim 

And sullen, eating nothing with a zest, 

With smirking features, yet a soul distressed, 
Missing the banished boy and envying him — 

Aye, longing for a spatter on my vest 

From his deflecting spoon, and yearning for 
The wild swoop of his lips insatiate, or 
His ever-ravenous, marauding eye 
Fore-eating everything from soup to pie ! 




59 



CHAIRLEY BURKE 

It's Chairley Burke's in town, b'ys! He's down 
til "Jamesy's Place/' 

Wid a bran'-new shave upon 'urn, an' the fhwhus- 
kers aff his face ; 

He's quit the Section Gang last night, an' yez can 
chalk it down 

There 's goin' to be the divil's toime, sence Chair- 
ley Burke's in town. 

It's treatin' iv'ry b'y he is, an' poundin' on the bar 
Till iv'ry man he's drinkin' wid must shmoke a 

f oine cigar ; 
An' Missus Murphy's little Kate, that's comin' 

there for beer, 
Can't pay wan cint the bucketful, the whilst that 

Chairley's here! 

60 



CHAIRLEY BURKE 

He's joompin' oor the tops o' sthools, the both 

f orninst an' back ! 
He'll lave yez pick the blessed flure, an' walk the 

straightest crack ! 
He's liftin' barrels wid his teeth, and singin' 

"Garry Owen" 
Till all the house be strikin' hands, sence Chairley 

Burke's in town. 

The Road-Yaird hands comes dhroppin' in, an' 

never goin' back ; 
An' there's two freights upon the switch — the 

wan on aither track — 
An' Mr. Gearry, from The Shops, he's mad 

enough to swear, 
An' durst n't spake a word but grin, the whilst 

that Chairley's there ! 
Och! Chairley! — Chairley! — Chairley Burke! ye 

divil, wid yer ways 
O' dhrivin' all the troubles aff, these dark an' 



gloomy days ! 



61 



CHAIRLEY BURKE 

Ohone ! that it's meself , wid all the griefs I have 

to dhrown, 
Must lave me pick to resht a bit, sence Chair hy 

Burke's in town ! 



62 



SONG— THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea— I am !— 

And this is my secret pride, 
That I have a hundred shapes, all sham, 

And a hundred names besides : 
They have named me "Habit," and "Way," for* 
sooth, 

"Capricious," and "Fancy-free" ; — 
But to you, O Youth, I confess the truth, — 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea. 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea, yo-ho! 

So lift up a song with me, 
As I sit on the throne of your shoulders, alone, 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea. 

63 



SONG — THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA 

Crowned with the crown of your noblest thought, 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea: 
I reign, rule, ruin, and palter not 

In my pitiless tyranny : 
You, my lad, are my gay Sinbad, 

Frisking about, with me 
High on the perch I have always had — 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea. 










SONG THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea, yo-ho! 

So lift up a song with me, 
As I sit on the throne of your shoulders, alone, 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea. 

Tricked in the guise of your best intent, 

I am your failures — all — 
I am the victories you invent, 

And your high resolves that fall : 
I am the vow you are breaking now 

As the wassail-bowl swings free 
And the red guilt flushes your cheek and brow- 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea. 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea, yo-ho! 

So lift up a song with me, 
As I sit on the throne of your shoulders, alone, 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea, 

65 



SONG — THE OLD MAN OF THE SEA 

I am your false dreams of success 

And your mythical future fame — 
Your life-long lies, and your soul's distress 

And your slowly-dying shame : 
I'm the clattering half of your latest laugh, 

And your tongue's last perfidy — 
Your doom, your tomb, and your epitaph . . 

I'm The Old Man of the Sea. 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea, yo-ho! 

So lift up a song with me, 
As I sit on the throne of your shoulders, alone, 

Fm The Old Man of the Sea. 



66 



AT NINETY IN THE SHADE 

Hot weather ? Yes ; but really not, 
Compared with weather twice as hot. 
Find comfort, then, in arguing thus, 
And you'll pull through victorious ! — 
For instance, while you gasp and pant 
And try to cool yourself — and can't — 
With soda, cream and lemonade, 
The heat at ninety in the shade, — 
Just calmly sit and ponder o'er 
These same degrees, with ninety more 
On top of them, and so concede 
The weather now is cool indeed ! 
Think — as the perspiration dews 
Your fevered brow, and seems to ooze 
From out the ends of every hair — 
Whole floods of it, with floods to spare- 

6 7 



AT NINETY IN THE SHADE 

Think, I repeat, the while the sweat 
Pours down your spine — how hotter yet 
Just ninety more degrees would be, 
And bear this ninety patiently ! 
Think — as you mop your brow and hair, 
With sticky feelings everywhere — 
How ninety more degrees increase 




68 



AT NINETY IN THE SHADE 

Of heat like this would start the grease ; 
Or, think, as you exhausted stand, 
A wilted "palmleaf" in each hand — 
When the thermometer has done 
With ease the lap of ninety-one ; 
O think, I say, what heat might do 
At one hundred and eighty-two — 
Just twice the heat you now declare, 
Complainingly, is hard to bear. 
Or, as you watch the mercury 
Mount, still elate, one more degree, 
And doff your collar and cravat, 
And rig a sponge up in your hat, 
And ask Tom, Harry, Dick and Jim 
If this is hot enough for him — 
Consider how the sun would pour 
At one hundred and eighty- four — 
Just twice the heat that seems to be 
Affecting you unpleasantly, 
The very hour that you might find 
As cool as dew, were you inclined. 

6 9 



AT NINETY IN THE SHADE 

But why proceed when none will heed 
Advice apportioned to the need ? 
Hot weather ? Yes ; but really not, 
Compared with weather twice as hot ! 



70 



GOOD-BYE ER HOWDY-DO 

Say good-bye er howdy-do — 
What 's the odds betwixt the two ? 
Comin' — goin' — every day — 
Best friends first to go away — 
Grasp of hands you 'd ruther hold 
Than their weight in solid gold, 
Slips their grip while greetin' you. — 
Say good-bye er howdy-do? 

Howdy-do, and then, good-bye — 
Mixes jist like laugh and cry; 
Deaths and births, and worst and best, 
Tangled their contrariest ; 
Ev'ry jinglin' weddin'-bell 
Skeerin' up some funer'l knell. — 
Here's my song, and there's your sigh, 
Howdy-do, and then, good-bye! 

71 



GOOD-BYE ER HOWDY-DO 

Say good-bye er howdy-do — 
Jist the same to me and you ; 
'Taint worth while to make no fuss, 
'Cause the job's put up on us ! 
Some One's runnin' this concern 
That's got nothin' else to learn : 
If He's willin', we'll pull through — 
Say good-bye er howdy-do ! 



72 



A LOCAL POLITICIAN FROM 
AWAY BACK 

Jedge is good at argyin' — 

No mistake in that ! 
Most folks 'at tackles him 

He'll skin 'em like a cat ! 
You see, the Jedge is read up, 

And ben in politics, 
Hand-in-glove, you might say, 

Sense back in '56. 

Elected to the Shurrif, first, 

Then elected Clerk ; 
Went into lawin' then, 

And buckled down to work ; 

73 



A LOCAL POLITICIAN FROM AWAY BACK 

Practiced three or four terms, 
Then he run for jedge — 

Speechified a little 'round, 
And went in like a wedge ! 

Run fer Legislatur' twic't — 

Made her, ever' pop ! 
Keeps on the way he's doin', 

Don't know where he'll stop ! 
Some thinks he's got his eye 

On the govnership; — 
Well, ef he tuk the track, 

Guess he'd make the trip ! 

But I started out to tell you — 

(Now I alius liked the man — 
Not fer his politics, 

But social', understan' ! — 
Fer, 's regards to my views, 

Political and sich, — 
When we come together there 

We're purty ap' to hitch.) 

74 



A LOCAL POLITICIAN FROM AWAY BACK 



Ketched him in at Knox's shop 

On'y t'other day — 
Gittin' shaved, the Jedge was, 

Er somepin' thataway. — 
Well, I tetched him up some 

On the silver bill : — 
Jedge says, "I won't discuss it ;" 

/ says, "You will!" 




/ // / . /// 



I-says-ee, "I reckon 

You'll concede with me, 
Coin's the on'y ginuine 

Money," I-says-ee; 
75 



A LOCAL POLITICIAN FROM AWAY BACK 

Says I, "What's a dollar-bill?" 

Says I, "What's a ten— 
Er forty-leven hunderd of 'em? — 

Give us specie, then!" 

I seed I was a gittin' 

The Jedge kindo' red 
Around the gills. He hawked some 

And cle'red his throat and said ! — 
"Facts is too complicated 

'Bout the bill in view," 
Squirmed and told the barber then 

He wisht he'd hurry through. 

'LI, then, I knowed I had him,— 

And the crowd around the fire 
Was all a-winkin' at me, 

As the barber raised him higher — 
Says I, "Jedge, what's a dollar? — 

Er a half-un," I-says-ee — 
"What's a quarter? — What's a dime?' 

"What's cents?" says he. 
76 



A LOCAL POLITICIAN FROM AWAY BACK 

W'y I had him fairly b'ilin' ! 

"You needn't comb my hair/' 
He says to the barber — 

"I want fresh air ;" 
And you'd a-died a-laughin' 

To a-seed him grab his hat, 
As I-says-ee, says I, "Jedge, 

Where you goin' at !" 

Jedge is good at argyin' 

By-and-large ; and yit 
Beat him at his own game 

And he's goin' to git ! 
And yit the Jedge is read up, 

And ben in politics, 
Hand-in-glove, you might say, 

Sence back in '56. 



77 



NEVER TALK BACK 

Never talk back! sich things is repperhensible ; 
A feller only hurts hisse'f that jaws a man 
that's hot ; 
In a quarrel, ef you'll only keep your mouth shet 
and act sensible, 
The man that does the talkin' '11 git worsted 
every shot! 

Never talk back to a feller that's abusin' you — 
Jest let him carry on, and rip, and snort, and 
swear ; 
And when he finds his blamin' and defamin' 's 
jest amusin' you, 
You've got him clean kaflummixed, — and you 
want to hold him there ! 

78 



NEVER TALK BACK 

Never talk back, and wake up the whole com- 
munity 
And call a man a liar, over Law, er Politics. — 
You can lilt and land him furder and with grace- 
fuller impunity 
With one good jolt of silence than half a dozen 
kicks ! 




P^ 



79 



"A BRAVE REFRAIN" 

When snow is here, and the trees look weird, 

And the knuckled twigs are gloved with frost ; 
When the breath congeals in the drover's beard, 

And the old pathway to the barn is lost ; 
When the rooster's crow is sad to hear, 

And the stamp of the stabled horse is vain, 
And the tone of the cow-bell grieves the ear — 

O then is the time for a brave refrain ! 

When the gears hang stiff on the harness-peg, 

And the tallow gleams in frozen streaks; 
And the old hen stands on a lonesome leg, 

And the pump sounds hoarse and the handle 
squeaks ; 

80 



"a brave refrain" 



When the woodpile lies in a shrouded heap, 
And the frost is scratched from the window- 
pane, 

And anxious eyes from the inside peep — 
O then is the time for a brave refrain ! 




When the ax-helve warms at the chimney- jamb! 

And hob-nailed shoes on the hearth below, 
And the house-cat curls in a slumber calm, 

And the eight-day clock ticks loud and slow ; 

81 



"a brave refrain" 



When the harsh broom-handle jabs the ceil 
'Neath the kitchen-loft, and the drowsy brain 

Sniffs the breath of the morning meal- — 
O then is the time for a brave refrain ! 

Envoi. 

When the skillet seethes, and a-blubbering hot 

Tilts the lid of the coffee-pot, 

And the scent of the buckwheat cake grows 

plain — 
O then is the time for a brave refrain ! 



82 



ME AND MARY 

All my feelin's in the Spring 

Gits so hlame contrary, 
I can't think of anything 
Only me and Mary ! 
"Me and Mary !" all the time, 
"Me and Mary!" like a rhyme, 
Keeps a-dingin' on till I'm 
Sick o' "Me and Mary!" 

"Me and Mary ! Ef us two 

Only was together — 
Playin' like we used to do 

In the Aprile weather!" 
All the night and all the day 
I keep wishin' thataway 
Till I'm gittin' old and gray 
Jes on "Me and Mary !" 

83 



ME AND MARY 

Muddy yit along the pike 

Sence the Winter's freezing 

And the orchard's back'ard-like 
Bloomin' out this season ; 

Only heerd one bluebird yit — 

Nary robin ner tomtit ; 

What's the how and why of it ? 
'Spectit's "Me and Mary!" 

Me and Mary liked the birds — 

That is, Mary sorto' 
Liked 'em first, and afterwards, 

W'y, I thought I'd ort'o. 
And them birds — ef Mary stood 
Right here with me, like she should — 
They'd be singin', them birds would, 

All fer me and Mary. 

Birds er not, I'm hopin' some 

I can git to plowin' ! 
Ef the sun'll only come, 

And the Lord allowin', 

8 4 



ME AND MARY 

Guess tomorry I'll turn in 
And git down to work ag'in ; 
This here loaferin' won't win, 
Not fer me and Mary! 

Fer a man that loves like me, 
And's afeard to name it, 
Till some other feller, he 

Gits the girl — dad-shame-it! 
Wet er dry, er clouds er sun — 
Winter gone er jes begun — 
Outdoor work fer me er none, 
No more "Me and Mary !" 



85 



FIRE AT NIGHT 



Fire! Fire! Ring! and ring! 
Hear the old bell bang and ding! 
Fire! Fire! 'way at night, — 
Can't you hear ? — I think you might !- 




Can't you hear them-air clangin' bells ?- 
W'y, / can't hear nothin' else ! 
Fire ! Ain't you 'wake at last ! — 
Hear them horses poundin' past — 
86 



FIRE AT NIGHT 

Hear that ladder-wagon grind 
Round the corner! — and, behind, 
Hear the hose-cart, turnin' short, 
And the horses slip and snort, 
As the engine's clank-and-jar 
Jolts the whole street, near and far. 
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! 
Can't you hist that winder higher? 
La ! they've all got past like "scat !" 
Night's as black as my old hat — 
And it's rainin', too, at that ! . . . 
Wonder where their old fire's at ! 



87 



A FALL CRICK VIEW OF THE 
EARTHQUAKE 

I kin hump my back and take the rain, 

And I don't keer how she pours ; 
I kin keep kindo' ca'm in a thunder-storm, 

No matter how loud she roars ; 
I hain't much skeered o' the lightnin' 

Ner I hain't sich awful shakes 
Afeard o' cyclones — but I don't want none 

O' yer dad-burned old earthquakes ! 

As long as my legs keeps stiddy, 
And long as my head keeps plum', 

And the buildin' stays in the front lot, 
I still kin whistle, some! 
88 



A FALL CRICK VIEW OF THE EARTHQUAKE 

But about the time the old clock 

Flops off'n the mantel-shelf, 
And the bureau skoots f er the kitchen, 

I'm a-goin' to skoot, myself! 




rfifli 



Plague-take! ef you keep me stabled 
While any earthquakes is around ! — 

I'm jist like the stock, — I'll beller 
And break fer the open ground ! 

8 9 



A FALL CRICK VIEW OF THE EARTHQUAKE 

And I 'low you'd be as nervous, 

And in jist about my fix, 
When yer whole farm slides from inunder you, 

And on'y the mor'gage sticks! 

Now cars hain't a-goin' to kill you 

Ef you don't drive 'crost the track ; 
Crediters never '11 jerk you up 

Ef you go and pay 'em back ; 
You kin stand all moral and mundane storms 

Ef you'll on'y jist behave- 
But a' earthquake: — well, ef it wanted you 

It 'ud husk you out o' yer grave ! 



90 



MR. SILBERBERG 

AND LITTLE JULIUS 



I like me yet dot leedle chile 
Vich climb my lap up in to-day, 
Unt took my cheap cigair avay, 

Unt laugh and kiss me purty-whvile,- 




91 



MR. SILBERBERG 

Possescially I like dose mout' 

Vich taste his moder's like— unt so, 

Eef my cigair it gone clean out 
— Yust let it go ! 

Vat I caire den for any ding? 

Der "heraldt" schlip out fon my handt 
Unt all my odvairtizement standt 
Mitout new changements boddering; 
I only t'ink — I have me dis 

Von leedle boy to pet unt love 
Unt play me vit, unt hug unt kiss — 
Unt dot's enough! 

Der plans unt pairposes I vear 
Out in der vorld all fades avay, 
Unt vit der beeznis of der day 
I got me den no time to spare ; 
Der caires of trade vas caires no more — 
Dem cash accounts dey dodge me by, 
Unt vit my chile I roll der floor, 
Unt laugh unt gry ! 
92 



MR. SILBERBERG 

Ach ! frient ! dem childens is der ones 
Dot got some happy times — -you bet ! — 
Dot 's vy ven I been growed up yet 
I visht I shtill been leedle vonce ! 
Unf ven dot leedle roozter tries 
Dem baby-tricks I used to do, 
My mout it vater, unt my eyes 
Dey vater too ! 

Unt all der summertime unt spring 
Of childhood it come back to me, 
So dot it vas a dream I see 

Ven I yust look at anyding! 
Unt ven dot leedle boy run by, 
I dink "Dot's me," fon hour to hour 
Schtill chasing yet dose butterfly 
Fon flower to flower ! 

Oxpose I vas lots money vairt, 

Mit blenty schtone-front schtore to rent, 
Unt mor'gages at twelf per tcent, 

Unt diamonds in my ruffled shairt, — 

93 



MR. SILBERBERG 

I make assignment of all dot, 
Unt tairn it over mit a schmile 

Aber you please — but, don'd forgot, 
I keep dot chile! 



94 



SPIRITS AT HOME 



THE FAMILY 



There was Father, and Mother, and Emmy, and 
Jane, 

And Lou, and Ellen, and John and me — 
And father was killed in the war, and Lou 
She died of consumption, and John did too, 

And Emmy she went with the pleurisy. 

THE SPIRITS 

Father believed in 'em all his life — 

But Mother, at first, she'd shake her head — 

Till after the battle of Champion Hill, 

When many a flag in the winder-sill 

Had crape mixed in with the white and red ! 

95 



SPIRITS AT HOME 

I used to doubt 'em myself till then — 

But me and Mother was satisfied 
When Ellen she set, and Father came 
And rapped "God Bless You!" and Mother's 
name, 
And "The flag's up here!" And we just all 
cried. 



Used to come often, after that, 

And talk to us — just as he used to do, 
Pleasantest kind ! And once, for John, 
He said he was "lonesome but wouldn't let on — 
Fear mother would worry, and Emmy and 
Lou." 

But Lou was the bravest girl on earth — 
For all she never was hale and strong, 
She'd have her fun ! — With her voice clean lost 
She'd laugh and joke us that "when she crossed 
To Father, we'd all come taggin' along !" 

9 6 



SPIRITS AT HOME 

Died — just that way ! And the raps was thick 

That night, as they often since occur, 
Extry loud ! And when Lou got back 
She said it was Father and her — and "whack !" 
She tuck the table — and we knowed her! 



John and Emmy, in five years more, 

Both had went. — And it seemed like fate ! — 

For the old home it burnt down, — but Jane 

And me and Ellen we built again 

The new house, here, on the old estate. 



And a happier family I don't know 

Of anywheres — unless it's them, — 
Father, with all his love for Lou, 
And her there with him, and healthy, too, 
And laughin', with John and little Em. 

97 



SPIRITS AT HOME 

And, first we moved in the new house here, 

They all dropped in for a long pow-wow, 
"We like your buildin', of course," Lou said, — 
"But wouldn't swop with you to save your head — 
For we live in the ghost of the old house now !" 



9 8 



A HINT OF SPRING 

'Twas but a hint of Spring — for still 
The atmosphere was sharp and chill, 
Save where the genial sunshine smote 
The shoulders of my overcoat, 
And o'er the snow beneath my feet 
Laid spectral fences down the street. 

My shadow even seemed to be 

Elate with some new buoyancy, 

And bowed and bobbed in my advance 

With trippingest extravagance, 

And, when the birds chirpt out somewhere, 

It seemed to wheel with me and stare. 

Above I heard a rasping stir — 
And on the roof the carpenter 
LofC. 99 



A HINT OF SPRING 

Was perched, and prodding rusty leaves 
From out the choked and dripping eaves— 
And some one, hammering about, 
Was taking all the windows out. 




Old scraps of shingles fell before 

The noisy mansion's open door ; 

And wrangling children raked the yard, 

And labored much, and laughed as hard, 

And fired the burning trash I smelt 

And sniffed again — so good I felt! 
ioo 



LOCKERBIE FAIR 

O the Lockerbie Fair !— Have you heard of its 

fame 
And its fabulous riches, too rare for a name! — 
The gold of the noon of the June-time refined 
To the Orient-Night, till the eyes and the mind 
Are dazed with the sights, in the earth and the 

air, 
Of the opulent splendors of Lockerbie Fair. 

What more fortunate fate might to mortal befall, 
Midst the midsummer beauty and bloom of it all, 
Than to beam with the moon o'er the rapturous 

scene 
And twink with the stars as they laughingly lean 
O'er the luminous revel and glamour and glare 
Fused in one dazzling glory at Lockerbie Fair. 

IOI 



LOCKERBIE FAIR 

The Night, like a queen in her purple and lace, 
With her diamonded brow, and imperious grace 
As she leads her fair votaries, train upon train, 
A-dance thro' the feasts of this mystic domain 
To the mandolin's twang, and the warble and 

blare 
Of voice, flute and bugle at Lockerbie Fair. 

All strange, ever-changing, enchanted delights 
Found now in this newer Arabian Nights, — 
Where each lovely maid is a Princess, and each 
Lucky swain an Aladdin — all treasures in reach 
Of the lamps and the rings — and with Genii to 

spare, 
Simply waiting your orders, at Lockerbie Fair. 



102 



A TINKLE OF BELLS 

The light of the moon on the white of the 
snow, 

And the answering twinkles along the street, 
And our sleigh flashing by, in the glamour and 

glow 
Of the glorious nights of the long ago, 

When the laugh of her lips rang clear and sweet 
As the tinkle our horses shook out of the bells 

And flung and tossed back 

On our glittering track 
In a shower of tremulous, murmuring swells 

Of the echoing, airy, melodious bells ! — 

O the mirth of the bells ! 

And the worth of the bells ! 

Come tinkle again, in this dearth of the bells, — 
This laughter and love that I lack, yearning back, 

For the far-away sound of the bells ! 

103 



A TINKLE OF BELLS 

Ah ! the bells, they were glad in the long ago ! 
And the tinkles they had, they have thrilled me so 
I have said : "It is they and her songs and face 
Make summer for me in the wintriest place !" 
And now — but sobbings and sad farewells, 
As I peer in the night through the sleeted pane, 
Hearing a clangor and wrangle of bells, 
And never a tinkle again ! 

The snow is a-swoon, and the moon dead-white, 
And the frost is wild in the air to-night ! 
Yet still will I linger and listen and pray 
Till the sound of her voice shall come this way, 
With a tinkle of bells, 
And the lisp-like tread 

Of the hooves of the sleigh, 
And the murmurs and swells 
Of the vows she said. 
And O, I shall listen as madmen may, 
Till the tinkling bells ring down this way ! — 

104 



A TINKLE OF BELLS 

Till again the grasp of my hand entwines 
The tensioned loops of the quivering lines, 
And again we ride in the wake of the pride 
And the strength of the coursers, side by side ; 
With our faces smitten again by the spray 
Of the froth of our streets as we gallop away 

In affright of the bells, 
And the infinite glee and delight of the bells, 
As they tinkle and tinkle and tinkle, till they 
Are heard through a dawn where the mists are 

drawn, 
And we canter a gallop and dash away 

Sheer into The Judgment Day ! 







ioS 



AN OLD FRIEND 

Hey, Old Midsummer ! are you here again, 

With all your harvest-store of olden joys,- 
Vast overhanging meadow-lands of rain, 



~\J^. ^ s 













1 06 



AN OLD FRIEND 

And drowsy dawns, and noons when golden grain 

Nods in the sun, and lazy truant boys 
Drift ever listlessly adown the day, 
Too full of joy to rest, and dreams to play. 



1 




The same old Summer, with the same old smile 

Beaming upon us in the same old way 

107 



AN OLD FRIEND 

We knew in childhood! Though a weary while 

Since that far time, yet memories reconcile 

The heart with odorous breaths of clover- 
hay; 

And again I hear the doves, and the sun streams 
through 

The old barn-dpor just as it used to do. 

And so it seems like welcoming a friend — 

An old, old friend, upon his coming home 
From some far country — coming home to spend 
Long, loitering days with me: And I extend 
My hand in rapturous glee : — And so you've 
come ! — 
Ho, I'm so glad ! Come in and take a chair : 
Well, this is just like old times, I declare ! 



108 



MY BACHELOR CHUM 

O a corpulent man is my bachelor chum, 

With a neck apoplectic and thick — 
An abdomen on him as big as a drum, 

And a fist big enough for the stick ; 
With a walk that for grace is clear out of the case, 

And a wobble uncertain — as though 
His little bow-legs had forgotten the pace 

That in youth used to favor him so. 

He is forty, at least ; and the top of his head 

Is a bald and a glittering thing ; 
And his nose and his two chubby cheeks are as 
red 
As three rival roses in Spring. 

iog 



MY BACHELOR CHUM 

His mouth is a grin with the corners tucked in, 
And his laugh is so breezy and bright 

That it ripples his features and dimples his chin 
With a billowy look of delight. 

He is fond of declaring he "don't care a straw" — 

That "the ills of a bachelor's life 
Are blisses compared with a mother-in-law, 

And a boarding-school miss for a wife !" 
So he smokes and he drinks, and he jokes and he 
winks, 

And he dines and he wines, all alone, 
With a thumb ever ready to snap as he thinks 

Of the comforts he never has known. 

But up in his den — (Ah, my bachelor chum!) — 
I have sat with him there in the gloom, 

When the laugh of his lips died away to become 
But a phantom of mirth in the room. 

no 



MY BACHELOR CHUM 

And to look on him there you would love him, 
for all 
His ridiculous ways, and be dumb 
As the little girl-face that smiles down from the 
wall 
On the tears of my bachelor chum. 




in 



HER BEAUTIFUL HANDS 

O your hands — they are strangely fair ! 
Fair — for the jewels that sparkle there, — 
Fair — for the witchery of the spell 
That ivory keys alone can tell ; 
But when their delicate touches rest 
Here in my own do I love them best, 
As I clasp with eager, acquisitive spans 
My glorious treasure of beautiful hands ! 

Marvelous — wonderful — beautiful hands ! 
They can coax roses to bloom in the strands 
Of your brown tresses ; and ribbons will twine, 
Under mysterious touches of thine, 
Into such knots as entangle the soul 
And fetter the heart under such a control 
As only the strength of my love understands — 
My passionate love for your beautiful hands. 

112 



HER BEAUTIFUL HANDS 

As I remember the first fair touch 
Of those beautiful hands that I love so much, 
I seem to thrill as I then was thrilled, 
Kissing the glove that I found unfilled — 
When I met your gaze, and the queenly bow, 
As you said to me, laughingly, "Keep it 

now!" . . . 
And dazed and alone in a dream I stand, 
Kissing this ghost of your beautiful hand. 

When first I loved, in the long ago, 
And held your hand as I told you so — 
Pressed and caressed it and gave it a kiss 
And said "I could die for a hand like this !" 
Little I dreamed love's fullness yet 
Had to ripen when eyes were wet 
And prayers were vain in their wild demands 
For one warm touch of your beautiful hands. 



113 



HER BEAUTIFUL HANDS 

Beautiful Hands ! — O Beautiful Hands ! 

Could you reach out of the alien lands 

Where you are lingering, and give me, to-night, 

Only a touch — were it ever so light — 

My heart were soothed, and my weary brain 

Would lull itself into rest again ; 

For there is no solace the world commands 

Like the caress of your beautiful hands. 



114 



THE BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH 

I quarrel not with Destiny, 

But make the best of everything — 

The best is good enough for me. 

Leave Discontent alone, and she 
Will shut her mouth and let you sing. 
I quarrel not with Destiny. 

I take some things, or let 'em be — 
Good gold has always got the ring ; 
The best is good enough for me. 

Since Fate insists on secrecy, 
I have no arguments to bring — 
I quarrel not with Destiny. 

115 



THE BEST IS GOOD ENOUGH 



The fellow that goes "haw" for "gee" 
Will find he hasn't got full swing. 
The best is good enough for me. 



One only knows our needs, and He 
Does all of the distributing. 
I quarrel not with Destiny; 
The best is good enough for me. 



L"S 



I ) 




116 



TOIL 

He had toiled away for a weary while, 
Thro' day's dull glare and the night's deep gloom ; 
And many a long and lonesome mile 
He had paced in the round of his dismal room ; 
He had fared on hunger — had drank of pain 
As the drouthy earth might drink of rain ; 
And the brow he leaned in his trembling* palm 
Throbbed with a misery so intense 
That never again did it seem that calm 
Might come to him with the gracious balm 
Of old-time languor and indolence. 
And he said, "I will leave the tale half told, 
And leave the song for the winds to sing ; 
And the pen — that pitiless blade of gold 
That stabs my heart like a dagger-sting — 
I will drive to the hilt through the inkstand's top 
And spill its blood to the last black drop !" 

117 



TOIL 

Then he masked his voice with a laugh, and went 

Out in the world with a lawless grace — 

With a brazen lie in his eyes and face 

Told in a smile of glad content: 

He roved the rounds of pleasure through, 

And tasted each as it pleased him to ; 

He joined old songs, and the clink and din 

Of the revelers at the banquet hall; 

And he tripped his feet where the violin 

Spun its waltz for the carnival ; 

He looked, bedazed, on the luring wile 

And the siren-light of a woman's smile, 

And peered in her eyes as a diver might 

Peer in the sea ere he leaps from sight,— 

Caught his breath, with a glance above, 

And dropped full-length in the depths of love. 

sjc ;fc $z ^c if: ^ >fc ^s >|s ■%. 

'Tis well if ever the false lights die 
On the alien coasts where our wreck'd hopes lie ! 
'Tis well to feel, through the blinding rain, 
Our outflung hands touch earth again! 

118 



TOIL 

So the castaway came, safe from doom, 
Back at last to his lonely room 
Filled with its treasure of work to do 
And radiant with the light and bloom 
Of the summer sun and his glad soul, too ! 
And sweet as ever the song of birds, 
Over his work he sang these words : — 

"O friends are good, with their princely ways, 
And royal hearts they are goodly things ; 
And fellowship, in the long dark days 
When the drear soul cowers with drooping wings, 
Is a thing to yearn for. — Mirth is good, — ■ 
For a ringing laugh is a rhythmic cry 
Blown like a hail from the Angelhood 
To the barque of the lone soul drifting by. — 
Goodly, too, is the mute caress 
Of woman's hands and their tenderness — 
The warm breath wet with the dews of love — 
The vine-like arms, and the fruit thereof — 
The touch that thrills, and the kiss that melts, — 
But Toil is sweeter than all things else." 

119 



HIS ROOM « 

"I'm home again, my dear old Room, 

I'm home again, and happy, too, 
As, peering through the brightening gloom, 
I find myself alone with you : 

Though brief my stay, nor far away, 
I missed you — missed you night and day- 
As wildly yearned for you as now. — 
Old Room, how are you, anyhow ? 

"My easy chair, with open arms, 

Awaits me just within the door; 
The littered carpet's woven charms 

Have never seemed so bright before, — 
The old rosettes and mignonettes 
And ivy-leaves and violets, 
Look up as pure and fresh of hue 
As though baptized in morning dew. 
I20 



m t 




HIS ROOM 

''Old Room, to me )T>ur homely walls 

Fold round me like the arms of love, 
And over all my being falls 

A blessing pure as from above — 
Even as a nestling child caressed 
And lulled upon a loving breast, 
With folded eyes, too glad to weep 
And yet too sad for dreams or sleep. 

"You've been so kind to me, old Room — 

So patient in your tender care, 
My drooping heart in fullest bloom 
Has blossomed for you unaware ; 
And who but you had cared to woo 
A heart so dark, and heavy too, 
As in the past you lifted mine 
From out the shadow to the shine? 

"For I was but a wayward boy 

When first you gladly welcomed me 
And taught me work was truer joy 
Than rioting incessantly: 

121 



HIS FOOM 

And thus the din that stormed within 

The old guitar and violin 

Has fallen in a fainter tone 

And sweeter, for your sake alone. 

Though in my absence I have stood 

In festal halls a favored guest, 
I missed, in this old quietude, 

My worthy work and worthy rest- 
By this I know that long ago 
You loved me first, and told me so 
In art's mute eloquence of speech 
The voice of praise may never reach. 

Tor lips and eyes in truth's disguise 
Confuse the faces of my friends, 
Till old affection's fondest ties 
I find unraveling at the ends ; 
But as I turn to you, and learn 
To meet my griefs with less concern, 
Your love seems all I have to keep 
Me smiling lest I needs must weep. 

122 



HIS ROOM 

"Yet I am happy, and would fain 
Forget the world and all its woes ; 
So set me to my tasks again, 

Old Room, and lull me to repose : 
And as we glide adown the tide 
Of dreams, forever side by side, 
I'll hold your hands as lovers do 
Their sweethearts' and talk love to you.' 



123 



THE PATHS OF PEACE 

MAURICE THOMPSON FEBRUARY 14, I9OI 

He would have holiday — outworn, in sooth, 
Would turn again to seek the old release, — 

The open fields — the loved haunts of his youth — 
The woods, the waters, and the paths of peace. 

The rest — the recreation he would choose 
Be his abidingly ! Long has he served 

And greatly— ay, and greatly let us use 

Our grief, and yield him nobly as deserved. 

Perchance — with subtler senses than our own 
And love exceeding ours — he listens thus 

To ever nearer, clearer pipings blown 
From out the lost lands of Theocritus. 

124 



THE PATHS OF PEACE 

Or, haply, he is beckoned from us here, 
By knight or yeoman of the bosky wood, 

Or, chained in roses, haled a prisoner 
Before the blithe Immortal, Robin Hood. 

Or, mayhap, Chaucer signals, and with him 
And his rare fellows he goes pilgriming; 

Or Walton signs him, o'er the morning brim 
Of misty waters midst the dales of Spring. 

Ho! wheresoe'r he goes, or whosoe'er 

He fares with, he has bravely earned the boon. 

Be his the open, and the glory there 

Of April-buds, May-blooms and flowers of 
June ! 

Be his the glittering dawn, the twinkling dew, 
The breathless pool or gush of laughing 
streams — 
Be his the triumph of the coming true 
Of all his loveliest dreams ! 

125 



IN STATE 

Is it the martins or katydids ? — 

Early morning or late at night ? 
A dream, belike, kneeling down on the lids 

Of a dying man's eyesight. 

• • » • • • • 

Over and over I heard the rain — 

Over and over I waked to see 
The blaze of the lamp as again and again 

Its stare insulted me. 

It is not the click of the clock I hear — 
It is the pulse of the clock,- — and lo ! 

How it throbs and throbs on the quickened ear 
Of the dead man listening so ! 

126 



IN STATE 

I heard them whisper She would not come ; 

But, being dead, I knew — I knew ! 
Some hearts they love us alive, and some 

They love us dead — they do! 

And I am dead — and I joy to be, — 
For here are my folded hands, so cold 

And yet blood-warm with the roses she 
Has given me to hold. 

Dead — yea, dead ! — But I hear the beat 

Of her heart as her warm lips touch my brow- 

And O how sweet — how blinding sweet 
To know that she loves me now! 



127 



THE MUTE SINGER 



The morning sun seemed fair as though 
It were a great red rose ablow 
In lavish bloom, 
With all the air for its perfume, — 
Yet he who had been wont to sing, 
Could trill no thing. 

II 

Supine, at noon, as he looked up 
Into the vast inverted cup 

Of heavenly gold, 
Brimmed with its marvels manifold, 
And his eye kindled, and his cheek — 
Song could not speak. 
128 



THE MUTE SINGER 



III 



Night fell forebodingly ; he knew 
Soon must the rain be falling, too, — 
And, home, heartsore, 
A missive met him at the door — 
— Then Song lit on his lips, and he 
Sang gloriously. 



129 



THE TRIBUTE OF HIS HOME 

BENJAMIN HARRISON, INDIANAPOLIS, 
MARCH 14, I9OI 

Bowed, midst a universal grief that makes 
Columbia's self a stricken mourner, cast 
In tears beneath the old Flag- at half-mast, 

A sense of glory rouses us and breaks 

Like song upon our sorrowing and shakes 

The dew from our drenched eyes, that smile 

at last 
In childish pride — as though the great man 
passed 

To his most high reward for our poor sakes. 

130 



THE TRIBUTE OF HIS HOME 

Loved of all men — we muse, — yet ours he was — 

Choice of the Nation's mighty brotherhood — 

Her soldier, statesman, ruler. — Ay, but then, 

We knew him — long before the world's applause 

And after — as a neighbor, kind and good, 

Our common friend and fellow-citizen. 



131 



EDGAR WILSON NYE 

OBIT FEBRUARY 22, 1 896 

The saddest silence falls when Laughter lays 
Finger on lip, and falteringly breaks 
The glad voice into dying minor shakes 

And quavers, lorn as airs the wind-harp plays 

At wane of drearest Winter's bleakest days. 
A troubled hush, in which all hope forsakes 
Us, and the yearning upstrained vision aches 

With tears that drown e'en heaven from our gaze. 
Such silence — after such glad merriment! 

O prince of halest humor, w T it and cheer ! 

Could you speak yet to us, I doubt not we 

Should catch your voice, still blithely eloquent 

Above all murmurings of sorrow here, 

Calling your love back to us laughingly. 



132 



SONGS OF A LIFE-TIME 

MRS. SARAH T. BOLTON'S POEMS 
l8 97 

Songs of a Life-Time — with the Singer's head 

A silvery glory shining midst the green 

Of laurel-leaves that bind a brow serene 

And godlike as was ever garlanded. — 

So seems her glory who herein has wed 

Melodious Beauty to the strong of mien 

And kingly Speech — made kinglier by this queen 

In lilied cadence voiced and raimented. 

Songs of a Life-Time : by your own sweet stress 

Of singing were ye loved of bygone years — 

As through our day ye are, and shall be hence, 

Till fame divine marks your melodiousness 

And on the Singer's lips, with smiles and tears, 

Seals there the kiss of love and reverence. 



133 



A NOON INTERVAL 

A deep, delicious hush in earth and sky— 
A gracious lull — since, from its wakening, 
The morn has been a feverish, restless thing 

In which the pulse of Summer ran too high 

And riotous, as though its heart went nigh 
To bursting with delights past uttering: 
Now, as an o'er joyed child may cease to sing 

All falteringly at play, with drowsy eye 
Draining the pictures of a fairy-tale 

To brim his dreams with — there comes o'er the 
day 
A loathful silence, wherein all sounds fail 

Like loitering tones of some faint roundelay . . . 
No wakeful effort longer may avail — 

The wand waves, and the dozer sinks away. 



134 



OLD HECS IDOLATRY 

Heigh-o! our jolly tilts at New World song! — 
What was the poem indeed! and where the 

bard — 
"Stabbing his inkpot ever, not his heart," 
As Hector phrased it contumeliously, 
Mouthing and munching, at the orchard-stile, 
A water-cored rambo whose spirted juice 
Glanced, sprayed and flecked the sunlight as he 

mouth'd 
And muncht, and muncht and mouth'd. All loved 

the man ! 
"Our Hector" as his Alma Mater oozed 
It into utterance — "Old Hec" said we 
Who knew him, hide-and-tallow, hoof-and-horn' 
So he : "O ay ! my soul ! our New World song — 
The tweedle-deedles of our modern school — 

135 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



A school of minnows, — not one gamy bass — 
To hook the angler, not the angler him. 
Here ! all ye little fishes : tweedle-dee ! 
Soh ! one — along the vasty stream of time — 
Glints to the surface with a gasp, — and, lo, 
A bubble ! and he thinks, 'My eye ! — see there, 
Ye little fishes, — there's a song I've sung !' 
Another gapes : another bubble ; then 
He thinks : 'Well, is it not a wondrous art 
To breathe a great immortal poem like that !' 
And then another — and another still — 
And yet another, — till from brim to brim 
The tide is postuled over with a pest 
Of bubbles — bursting bubbles ! Ay ! O ay !" 
So, bluff old Hec. And we, who knew his mood 
Had ramped its worst — unless we roused it yet 
To ire's horriffickest insanity 
By some inane, unguarded reference 
To "verse beragged in Hoosier dialect" — 
(A strangely unforgotten coinage of 
Old Hec's long years agone) — we, so, forbore 

136 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



A word, each glimpsing each, as down we sank, 

Couched limply in the orchard's selvage, where — 

The rambo finished and the soggy core 

Zippt at a sapphire wasp with waist more slim 

Than any slender lady's, of old wars, 

Pent fasting for long sennights in tall towers 

That overtop the undercringing seas — 

With one accordant voice, the while he creased 

"Sis scroll of manuscript, we said, "Go on." 

f hen Hector thus : 



AN IDYLL OF THE KING 

Erewhile, at Autumn, to King Arthur's court 
Came Raelus, clamoring : "Lo, has our house 
Been sacked and pillaged by a lawless band 
Of robber knaves, led on by Alstanes, 
The Night-Flower named, because of her fair 

face, 
All like a lily gleaming in the dusk 

137 



OLD HEC S IDOLATRY 



Of her dark hair — and like a lily brimmed 
With dewy eyes that drip their limpid smiles 
Like poison out, for by them has been wro't 
My elder brother's doom, as much I fear. 
While three days gone was holden harvest-feast 




At Lyhion Castle — clinging like a gull 
High up the gray cliffs of Caerleon — 
Came, leaf-like lifted from the plain below 
As by a twisted wind, a rustling pack 

138 



OLD HEC's IDOLATRY 



Of bandit pillagers, with Alstanes 
Bright-fluttering like a red leaf in the front. 
And ere we were aware of fell intent — 
Not knowing whether it was friend or foe— 
We found us in their toils, and all the house 
In place of guests held only prisoners — 
Save that the host, my brother, wro't upon 
By the strange beauty of the robber queen, 
Was left unfettered, but by silken threads 
Of fine-spun flatteries and wanton smiles 
Of the enchantress, till her villain thieves 
Had rifled as they willed and signal given 
To get to horse again. And so they went — 
Their leader flinging backward, as she rode, 
A kiss to my mad brother — mad since then, — 
For from that sorry hour he but talked 
Of Alstanes, and her rare beauty, and 
Her purity — ay, even that he said 
Was star-white, and should light his life with 

love 
Or leave him groping blindly in its quest 

139 



OLD HEC S IDOLATRY 

Thro' all eternity. So, sighing, he 
Went wandering about till set of sun, 
Then got to horse, and bade us all farewell ; 
And with his glamoured eyes bent trancedly 




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Upon the tumbled sands that marked the way 
The robber-woman went, he turned and chased 
His long black shadow o'er the edge of night." — 
So Raelus, all seemingly befret 

140 



OLD HEC S IDOLATRY 

With such concern as nipped his utterance 
In scraps of speech : at which Sir Lancelot, 
Lifting a slow smile to the King, and then 
Turning his cool eye on the youth — "And you 
Would track this siren-robber to her hold 
And rout her rascal followers, and free 
Your brother from the meshes of this queen 
Of hearts — for there you doubtless think him?" 

"Ay!" 
Foamed Raelus, cheek flushed and eye aflame, — 
"So even have I tracked, and found them, too, 
And know their burrow, shrouded in a copse, 
Where, faring in my brother's quest, I heard 
The nicker of his horse, and followed on, 
And found him tethered in a thicket wild, 
As tangled in its tress of leaf and limb 
As is a madman's hair ; and down the path 
That parted it and ran across a knoll 
And dipped again, all suddenly I came 
Upon a cave, wide-yawning 'neath a beard 
Of tangled moss and vine, whence issuing 

141 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



I heard, blown o'er my senses faint and clear 
As whiffs of summer wind, my brother's voice 
Lilting a love-song, with the burden tricked 
With dainty warblings of a woman's tongue : 
And even as I listening bent, I heard 
Such peals of wanton merriment as made 
My own heart flutter as a bird that beats 
For freedom at the bars that prison it. 
So turned I then and fled as one who flies 
To save himself alone — forgetful of all 
Of that my dearer self — my brother. — O !" — 
Breaking as sharply as the icy blade 
That loosens from the eave to slice the air 
And splinter into scales of flying frost — 
"Thy help ! Thy help ! A dozen goodly knights- 
Ay, even that, if so it be their hearts 
Are hungry as my own to right the wrong!" 

So Raelus. And Arthur graciously 
Gave ear to him, and, patient, heard him thro', 
And pitied him, and granted all he asked ; 

142 



OLD HECS IDOLATRY 



Then took his hand and held it, saying, "Strong 
And ever stronger may its grasp be knit 
About the sword that flashes in the cause 
Of good." 

Thus Raelus, on the morrow's front, 
Trapped like a knight and shining like a star, 
Pranced from the archway of the court, and led 




143 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



His glittering lances down the gleaming road 
That river-like ran winding till it slipped 
Out of the palace view and spilled their shields 
Like twinkling bubbles o'er the mountain brim. 
Then happed it that as Raelus rode, his tongue 
Kept even pace and cantered ever on 
Right merrily. His brother, as he said, 
Had such an idle soul within his breast — 
Such shallowness of fancy for his heart 
To drift about in — that he well believed 
Its anchor would lay hold on any smile 
The lees of womanhood might offer him. 
As for himself, he loved his brother well, 
Yet had far liefer see him stark and white 
In marble death than that his veins shuld burn 
With such vitality as spent its flame 
So garishly it knew no steady blaze, 
But ever wavered round as veered the wind 
Of his conceit ; for he had made his boast — 
Tho' to his own shame did he speak of it — 
That with a wink he could buy every smile 

144 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



That virtue owned. So tattled Raelus 
Till, heated with his theme, he lifted voice 
And sang the song, "The Light of Woman's 
Eyes!" 

"O bright is gleaming mom on mountain height; 
And bright the moon, slipt from its sheath of 
night, — 
But brighter is the light of woman's eyes, 

"And bright the dewdrop, trembling on the lip 
Of some red rose, or lily petal-tip, 

Or lash of pink, — but brighter woman's eyes. 

"Bright is the firefly's ever-drifting spark 
That throbs its pulse of light out in the dark; 
And bright the stars, — but brighter woman's 
eyes. 

"Bright morn or even; bright or moon or star, 
And all the many twinkling lights that are, — 
brighter than ye all are woman's eyes." 

145 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



So Raelus sang. — And they who rode with him 

Bewildered were, and even as he sang 

Went straggling, twos and threes, and fell behind 

To whisper wonderingly, "Is he a fool?" 

And "Does he waver in his mind ?" and "Does 

The newness of adventure dazzle him ?" 

So spake they each to each, till far beyond, 

With but one loathful knight in company, 

They saw him quit the beaten track, and turn 

Into the grassy margin of a wood. 

And loitering, they fell in mocking jest 

Of their strange leader ! "See ! why, see !" said 

one, — 
"He needs no help to fight his hornets' nest, 
But one brave knight to squire him!" — pointing 

on 
To where fared on the two and disappeared. 
"O ay !" said one, "belike he is some old 
War-battered knight of long-forgotten age, 
That, bursting from his chrysalis, the grave, 
Comes back to show us tricks we never dreamed !" 

146 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



"Or haply," said another, with a laugh, — 
"He rides ahead to tell them that he comes 
And shrive them ere his courage catches up." 
And merry made they all, and each in turn 
Filliped a witty pellet at his head : 
Until, at last, their shadows shrunk away 
And shortened 'neath them and the hour was 

noon. 
They flung them from their horses listlessly 
Within the grassy margin of the wood 
Where had passed Raelus an hour agone : 
And, hungered, spied a rustic ; and they sent 
To have them such refreshment as might be 
Found at the nearest farm, — where, as it chanced, 
Was had most wholesome meat, and milk, and 

bread ; 
And honey, too, celled in its fretted vase 
Of gummy gold and dripping nectar-sweet 
As dreamed-of kisses from the lips of love ; 
Wine, too, was broughten, rosy as the dawn 
That ushers in the morning of the heart ; 

147 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



And tawny, mellow pear, whose golden ore 
Fell molten on the tongue and oozed away 
In creamy and delicious nothingness ; 
And netted melon, musky as the breath 
Of breezes blown from out the Orient ; 
And purple clusterings of plum and grape, 
Blurred with a dust dissolving at the touch, 
Like flakes the fairies had snowed over them. 
And as the idlers basked, with toast and song 
And graceful dalliance and wanton jest, 
A sound of trampling hooves and jingling reins 
Brake sudden, stilled them ; and from out a dim 
Path leading from the bosky wood there came 
A troop of mounted damsels, nigh a score, 
Led by a queenly girl, in crimson clad, 
With lissome figure lithe and willowy, 
And face as fair and sweet and pure withal 
As might a maiden lily-blossom be 
Ere it has learned the sin of perfect bloom : 
Her hair, blown backward like a silken scarf 
And fondled by the sun, was glossier 

148 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



And bluer black than any raven's wing. 
"And O !" she laughed, not knowing she was 

heard 
By any but her fellows : "Men are fools !" 
Then drawing rein, and wheeling suddenly, 
Her charger mincing backward, — "Raelus — 
My Raelus is greater than ye all, 
Since he is such a fool that he forgets 
He is a man, and lets his tongue of love 
Run babbling like a silly child's ; and, pah ! 
I puff him to the winds like thistle-down !" 
And, wheeling as she spake, found staring up, 
Wide-eyed and wondering, a group of knights, 
Half lifted, as their elbows propped their heads, 
Half lying ; and one, smirker than the rest, 
Stood bowing very low, with upturned eyes 
Lit with a twinkling smile : "Fair lady — and 
Most gracious gentlewoman" — seeing that 
The others drew them back as tho' abashed 
And veiled their faces with all modesty, 
Tho' she, their leader, showed not any qualm, — 

149 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



"Since all unwittingly we overheard 

Your latest speech, and since we know at last 

'All men are fools/ right glad indeed am I 

That such a nest of us remains for you 

To vanquish with those eyes." Then, serious, 

That she nor smiled nor winced, nor anything — 

"Your pardon will be to me as a shower 

Of gracious rain unto a panting drouth." 

So bowed in humblest reverence ; at which 

The damsel, turning to her followers, 

Laughed musically, — "See ! he proves my 

words !" 
Whereat the others joined with inward glee 
Her pealing mirth ; and in the merriment 
The knights chimed, too, and he, the vanquished 

one, 
Till all the wood rang as at hunting-tide 
When bugle-rumors float about the air 
And echoes leap and revel in delight. 

150 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



Then spake the vanquished knight, with mental 

eye 
Sweeping the vantage-ground that chance had 

gained, — 
"Your further pardon, lady. Since the name 
Of Raelus fell from those lips of thine, 
We fain would know of him. He led us here, 
And as he went the way wherefrom your path 
Emerges, haply you may tell us where 
He may be found?" 

"What! Raelus?" she cried — 
"He comes with you? — The brave Sir Raelus? — 
That mighty champion? — that gallant knight? — 
Tnat peerless wonder of all nobleness? 
Then proud am I to greet ye, knowing that ; 
And, certes, had I known of it ere now, 
Then had I proffered you more courtesy 
And told you, ere the asking, that he bides 
The coming of his friends a league from this, 

151 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



Hard by a reedy mere, where in high tune 
We left him singing, nigh an hour agone." 
Then, as she lightly wheeled her horse about 
And signal gave to her companions 
To follow, gaily cried : "Tell Raelus 
His cousin sends to him her sad farewells 
And fond regrets, and kisses many as 
His valorous deeds are numbered in her heart." 
And with "Fair morrow to ye, gentle knights !" 
Her steed's hooves struck the highway at a 

bound ; 
And dimly thro' the dust they saw her lead 
Her fluttering cavalcade as recklessly 
As might a queen of Araby, fleet-horsed, 
Skim o'er the level sands of Syria ; 
So vanished. And the knights with one accord 
Put foot in stirrup, and, with puzzled minds 
And many-channeled marvelings, filed in 
The woody path, and fared them on and on 
Thro' denser glooms, and ways more intricate ; 

152 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



Till, mystified at last and wholly lost, 

They made full halt, and would have turned them 

back 
But that a sudden voice brake on their ears 
All piteous and wailing, as distressed : 
And, following these cries, they sharply came 
Upon an open road that circled round 
A reedy flat and sodden tract of sedge, 
Moated with stagnant water, crusted thick 
With slimy moss, wherein were wriggling things 
Entangled, and blind bubbles bulging up 
And bursting where from middle way upshot 
A tree-trunk, with its gnarled and warty hands 
As tho' upheld to clutch at sliding snakes 
Or nip the wet wings of the dragon-fly. 
Here gazing, lo ! they saw their comrade, he 
That had gone on with Raelus ; and he 
Was tugging to fling back into its place 
A heavy log that once had spanned the pool 

153 



OLD HECS IDOLATRY 



And made a footway to the sedgy flat 

Whence came the bitter wailing cries they heard, 



u 










Then hastened they to join him in his task; 

But, panting, as they asked of Raelus, 

All winded with his work, yet jollier 

Than meadow-lark at morn, he sent his voice 

In such a twittering of merriment, 

The wail of sorrow died and laughter strewed 

Its grave with melody. 

154 



OLD HEC's IDOLATRY 



"O Raelus ! 
Rare Raelus !" he cried and clapped his hands, 
And even in the weeds that edged the pool 
Fell wrestling with his mirth. — "Why, Raelus," 
He said, when he at last could speak again, 
"Drew magnet-like — you know that talk of his, — 
And so, adhesive, did I cling and cling 
Until I found us in your far advance, 
And, hidden in the wood, I stayed to say 
'Twas better we should bide your coming. 'No/ 
Then on again ; and still a second time — 
'Shall we not bide their coming?' 'No !' he said ; 
And on again, until the third ; and 'No — 
We'll push a little further.' As we did ; 
And, sudden, came upon an open glade — 
There to the northward, — by a thicket bound : 
Then he dismounted, giving me his rein, 
And, charging me to keep myself concealed, 
And if he were not back a certain time 
To ride for you and search where he had gone, 
He crossed the opening and passed from sight 

155 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



Within the thicket. I was curious : 
And so, dismounting, tethered our two steeds 
And followed him ; and, creeping warily, 
Came on him where — unseen of him — I saw 
Him pause before the cave himself described 
Before us yesternoon. And here he put 
His fingers to his lips and gave a call 
Bird-like and quavering: at which a face, 
As radiant as summer sun at morn, 
Parted the viny curtains of the cave ; 
And then, a moment later, came in view 
A woman even fairer than my sight 
Might understand. 'What ! dare you come 

again ?' 
As, lifting up her eyes all flashingly, 
She scorched him with a look of hate. — 'Begone ! 
Or have you — traitor, villain, knave, and cur, — 
Bro't minions of the law to carry out 
The vengeance of your whimpering jealousy?' 
Then Raelus, all cowering before 
Her queenly anger, faltered : 'Hear me yet ; 

156 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



I do not threaten. But your love — love ! — 
O give me that. I know you pure as dew : 
Your love ! Your love ! — The smile that has gone 

out 
And left my soul a midnight of despair ! — 
Your love or life ! For I have even now 
Your stronghold girt about with certain doom 
If you but waver in your choice. — Your love !' 
At which, as quick as tho't, leapt on him there 
A strong man from the covert of the gloom ; 
And others, like to him, from here and there 
Came scurrying. I, turning, would have fled, 
But found myself as suddenly beset 
And tied and tumbled there with Raelus. 
And him they haltered by his squirming heels 
Until he did confess such villainy 
As made me wonder if his wits were sound — 
Confessed himself a renegade — a thief — 
Ay, even one of them, save that he knew 
Not that nice honor even thieves may claim 
Among themselves. — And so ran on thro' such 

157 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



A catalogue of littlenesses, I 

For deafest shame had even stopped my ears 

But that my wrists were lockt. And when he 

came 
To his confession of his lie at court, 
By which was gained our knightly sympathy 
And valiant service on this fools' crusade, 
I seemed to feel the redness of my blush 
Soak thro' my very soul. There I brake in : 
'Fair lady and most gallant,— to my shame 
Do I admit we have been duped by such 
An ingrate as this bundled lump of flesh 
That I am helpless to rise up and spurn : 
Unbind me, and I promise such amends 
As knightly hands may deign to wreak upon 
A thing so vile as he/ Then, laughing, she : 
'First tell me, by your honor, where await 
Your knightly brothers and my enemies/ 
To which I answered, truthfully, I knew 
Not where you lingered, but not close at hand 
I was assured. Then all abrupt, she turned : 

158 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 



'Get every one within ! We ride at once !' 
And scarce a dozen minutes ere they came 
Outpouring from the cave in such a guise 
As made me smile from very wonderment. — 
From head to heel in woman's dress they came, 
Clad richly, too, and trapped and tricked withal 
As maidenly, but in the face and hand, 
As ever damsels flock at holiday. 
Then were their chargers bro't, caparisoned 
In keeping ; and they mounted, lifting us, 
Still bounden, with much jest and mockery 
Of soft caress and wanton blandishments, 
As tho' they were of sex their dress declared. 
And so they carried us until they came 
Upon the road there as it nicks the copse ; 
And so drew rein, dismounted, leaving some 
To guard their horses ; hurried us across 
This footway to the middle of the flat. 
Here Raelus was bounden to a tree, 
Stript to the waist ; my fetters cut, and then 
A long, keen switch put in my hand, and 'Strike ! 

159 



OLD HECS IDOLATRY 

Strike as all duty bids you !' said the queen. 
And so I did, with right good will at first ; 
Till, softened as I heard the wretch's prayers 
Of anguish, I at last withheld my hand. 







'What! tiring?' chirpt the queen: 'Give me the 

stick !' 
And swish, and swish, and mercy how it rained ! 

1 60 



OLD HEC's IDOLATRY 



Then all the others, forming circlewise, 
Danced round and round the howling wretch, and 

jeered 
And japed at him, and mocked and scoffed at 

him, 
And spat upon him. And I turned away 
And hid my face ; then raised it pleadingly : 
Nor would they listen my appeal for him ; 
But left him so, and thonged and took me back 
Across the mere, and drew the bridge, that none 
Might go to him, and carried me with them 
Far on their way, and freed me once again ; 
And back I turned, tho' loath, to succor him." 
And even as he ceased they heard the wail 
Break out anew, and crossed without a word, 
And Raelus they found, and without word 
They loosed him. And he brake away and ran 
As runs a lie the truth is hard upon. 

161 



OLD HEC'S IDOLATRY 

Thus did it fare with Raelus. And they 
Who knew of it said naught at court of it, 
Xor from that day spake ever of him once. 
Nor heard of him again, nor cared to hear. 



162 



UNLESS 

Who has not wanted does not guess 
What plenty is. — Who has not groped 

In depths of doubt and hopelessness 
Has never truly hoped. — 

Unless, sometimes, a shadow falls 
Upon his mirth, and veils his sight, 
And from the darkness drifts the light 
Of love at intervals. 

And that most dear of everything, 

I hold, is love ; and who can sit 
With lightest heart, and laugh and sing, 

Knows not the worth of it. — 
Unless, in some strange throng, perchance, 
He feels how thrilling sweet it is, 
One yearning look that answers his — 
The troth of glance and glance. 
163 



UNLESS 

Who knows not pain, knows not, alas ! 

What pleasure is. — Who knows not of 
The bitter cup that will not pass, 

Knows not the taste of love. 
O souls that thirst, and hearts that fast, 

And natures faint with famishing, 

God lift and lead and safely bring 
You to your own at last ! 



164 



PROSE OR VERSE? 

Prose or Verse — or Verse or Prose ? 
Ever thus the query goes, — 
Which delight do we prefer — 
Which the finer — daintier? 

Each incites a zest that grows — 
Prose or Verse — or Verse or Prose ? — 
Each a lotus-eater's spell 
Wholly irresistible. 

All that wit may fashion, free- 
Voiced, or piped in melody, — 
Prose or Verse — or Verse or Prose — 
WhicE of these the mastery knows ? 

Twere as wise to question, friend — 

As of this alluring blend, — 

The aroma or the rose? — 

Prose or Verse — or Verse or Prose ? 

165 



"GO READ YOUR BOOK!" 

How many times that grim old phrase 
Has silenced me, in childish days ! 

And now — as then it did — 
The phantom admonition, clear 
And dominant, rings, — and I hear, 

And do as I am bid. 

"Go read your book !" my good old sire 
Commanded, in affected ire, 

When I, with querying look 
And speech, dared vex his studious mind 
With idle words of any kind. — 

And so I read my book. 

Though seldom, in that wisest age, 
Did I discern on Wisdom's page 
More than the task: that led 
166 



"go read your book!" 

At least to thinking, and at last 

To reading less, and not so fast, 

And longing as I read. 

And, lo ! in gracious time, I grew 

To love a book all through and through !- 

With yearning eyes I look 
On any volume, — old, maybe, 
Or new — 'tis meat and drink to me. — 

And so I read my book. 

Old dog-eared Readers, scarred and inked 
With school-boy hatred, long extinct; — 

Old Histories that bored 
Me worst of all the school; — old, worn 
Arithmetics, frayed, ripped, and torn — 

Now Ye are all adored ! 

And likewise I revere and praise 
My sire, as now, with vainest gaze 
And hearing, still I look 
167 



"go read your book!" 

For the old face so grave yet dear- 
Nay, still I see, and still I hear! 
And so I read my book. 

Next even to my nearest kin, — 
My wife — my children romping in 

From school to ride my knee, — 
I love a book, and dispossess 
My lap of it with loathfulness, 

For all their love of me. 

For, grave or gay the book, it takes 
Me as an equal — calms, or makes 

Me, laughing, overlook 
My little self— forgetful all 
Of being so exceeding small. 

And so I read my book. 



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